Publisher’s write-up:
‘Alfa and Mademba are two of
the many Senegalese soldiers fighting in the Great War. Together they climb
dutifully out of their trenches to attack France's German enemies whenever the
whistle blows, until Mademba is wounded, and dies in a shell hole with his
belly torn open.
Without his more-than-brother,
Alfa is alone and lost amidst the savagery of the conflict. He devotes himself
to the war, to violence and death, but soon begins to frighten even his own
comrades in arms. How far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?
At Night All Blood is Black is
a hypnotic, heartbreaking rendering of a mind hurtling towards madness.’
Note: I read the book in French – review in French – cliquez ici
At Night All Blood is Black is a historical
novel written by David Diop. The story is set during the times of the First
World War and revolves around Alfa Ndiaye, a Senegalese rifleman in the French army,
who has had a deeply disturbing experience in the battlefield.
The story starts with the death of Mademba Diop
under gruesome circumstances, the person whom Alfa calls as someone who is more
than a brother to him (hence the French title – which translates to soul
brother). While he was mortally injured, Mademba requested Alfa to end his
suffering and kill him, which Alfa could not bring himself to do. Since this
incident, Alfa became desperate for revenge against the ‘blue-eyed enemy’ and
recreated the scene of Mademba’s death by cruelly executing the ‘blue-eyed’
enemy soldiers. His own camp and his captain were worried about Alfa’s actions
and wanted to remove him from combat roles.
It was an excellent premise, and I loved the
narration style of the author wherein, Alfa recalled the past several times to
the reader, but this was done in connection with the events that were currently
happening in his life and thus it could still be considered a linear
narration. At the outset, he describes his trench and his camp, and also
the expectations they had of the African soldiers: which was to behave like ‘savages’
to intimidate the enemy, for that is exactly their perception of them. He also
brought out the disconnect between the French and the Africans in the trench, sometimes
with a bit of black comedy, wherein a soldier screams saying that he had
understood the reason why he needed to die, and that was for his family
pension.
The reason for the extreme behaviour of Alfa
would be diagnosed as a case of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) these
days. He was considered as an outcast by both the French and the African
soldiers, the latter who believed that Alfa was a djëmm (Wolof
for devil) – I loved these references in Wolof, be it the beliefs, superstitions,
or the folktales.
My favourite part was Alfa
recalling the story of his family – in a small village in Senegal called
Gandiol, where we learn the traditions and social norms of the village, the ongoing
‘politics’, and risks and also their relations with neighbouring ethnicities.
It was during this part that the friendship between Mademba and Alfa is brought
out in full, and also their contrasting personalities, wherein Mademba was the
intellectual who could even speak French and Alfa was the typical brash
strongman.
I would have liked if there was
more to the book as I was enthralled by the part of the story in West Africa
and would have loved to have had more of it. Alfa is a complex character, with
whom we can sympathise but may not particularly like and it was this layered
aspect of his that I enjoyed.
To conclude, I would say that is
an excellent read and I award the book a rating of eight on ten.
Rating – 8/10
Have a nice day,
Andy
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